March 20, 2007

Politicians promise “No draft.” At the same time politicians speak of the value of “National Service” by our youth. They say it can be an opportunity to serve the needs of the inner city, to improve the environment, and, oh yes, to serve your country in the military. There are real needs in the inner city and for the environment. So let’s put some significant money into those areas now. Strange, it’s not happening now. But we will get national service when the politicians think a draft is needed and socially aceptable (oh, I forgot, this is not a draft, it is “National Service.”) But come another 9/11 (which our actions around the world are making increasingly likely), when all ”true patriots” are clamoring for revenge, we will hear “National Service” for real. Make no mistake, it is a draft in sheep’s clothing, with useful options to shunt aside those who might otherwise object to military service. With universal service for both men and women, there will be plenty of wo/man power. But the true purpose is to fight a world war. Those who oppose it will be crucified. I will oppose it with all my strength, knowing what it really is and how it came about. I hope others can hold to that same faith — it will not be easy.

March 5, 2007

There are two things of which I am certain. That I love my wife Fran. That I cannot particpate in war. I experience them as complementary. The tangible love that I feel for my wife enhances the more conceptual abhorrence of war. Love for my wife helps me directly comprehend that war, in destroying such life and love, is totally unjust. I describe my love as unconditional love. I find this to be an amazing and life-changing conviction. It does not mean that I never get angry. Fran and I are blessed to be amazingly well matched, but we are not perfect. But in this instance I believe that perfect love, in the sense of being forgiving, understanding, and having total confidence in one’s love, is achievable. Such love blesses both the giver and the receiver. It is a feeling that is so rare and special, that for me it is experienced as a gift from God. This experience becomes part of the tangible evidence for the love that God has for all human kind, and has the effect that I become a channel for expressing this love to the world through my resistance to war. War destroys love; war is a denial of God.